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“Yeah, okay.” Her eyelids flutter as she blinks rapidly. “So I knew that I was pregnant after we broke up.” She sticks her spoon in her coconut surprise.
“Why didn’t you call me? You had my phone number.”
“I tried to call your office first.”
“And?”
“Your secretary knew that we had broken up, but I told her that it was urgent. So I talked her into sending the call to Jack instead so he could make the call.”
“And?” The strawberry frozen yogurt tastes too sour.
“Jack heard me out. We came to an agreement. He paid me every month, and in return, I didn’t ruin your life. You’d already said goodbye to me. I knew that you didn’t want to be around me. As long as the checks kept coming, everyone was happy.”
“How much was he sending you?”
She names a number that makes me whistle.
“That’s a lot of money.”
“Silence is expensive.” She waves her hands. I notice that she’s wearing a lot of jewelry, various rings, bracelets, and a necklace that looks like it could be in a window display case. “And we’ve never gone without anything. Ryan’s had everything I’ve ever wanted for him.” Her tone is defensive, and I don’t know why.
“You’ve taken care of him, then.” I don’t say anything about Ryan’s disconnect from reality. If he is my son, there’s time to fix it. If he’s not, I don’t have to care.
“In every way but one…he’s never had a father.”
I can see that, but I say, “You might fix that today.”
She stares at her hands. One of her rings is catching the sunlight and throwing rainbows on the wall. “I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“He might not be yours.”
The soft chatter of the other customers checking out is the only sound besides the game music.
“Then why did you…”
“Because Jack was willing to pay me to keep my mouth shut.”
“Schrodinger’s cat.”
She nods. “I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to find out. It could be your baby. But it wasn’t hard to replace you.”
“You were with someone right after me?”
She blushes slightly. “More than one.”
I sit and let that sink in. “So there’s not even a 50% chance that I’m his dad.”
“It’s lower than 50%. It’s lower than 25%.”
I could be pissed, but I’m relieved. I’m glad now that this is all coming out, because it means that I could still be free to marry Camilla and leave the past alone.
Marcia’s crying a little bit, although she’s pretending that she’s just wiping her nose. I can see some women in the frozen yogurt café with sympathetic eyes. Then they turn to me. Their stares turn icy. They think that I’m making her cry, and I don’t know how to tell them that she’s crying because of what she did, not anything I’m saying.
“If you’re not the father…”
“You’re not going to get those child support checks from Jack anymore. Can’t you hunt down the real father?”
